Wellington Phoenix still plenty to play for
- 12 minutes ago
- 3 min read
The finals may be out of reach, but Wellington Phoenix head coach Chris Greenacre believes there’s still plenty for his side to play for.
The Phoenix men bring down the curtain on their 2025-26 season against Macarthur FC at Campbelltown Stadium on Friday night.
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The Nix enter the final round of the regular season in seventh place, four points outside the top six and two points clear of the ninth-placed Bulls.
But it’s not a dead rubber for Greenacre and he’ll be conveying that message to his players.
“There’s a right way of doing things and I believe in being a good pro…when there’s maybe not so much at stake,” he told media after training on Thursday before the team’s flight to Sydney.
“You’ve got an opportunity to show what you’re about as a person and what things matter to you.
“This is a great opportunity for players to put themselves in the shop window whether it’s for us for a future here or if it’s for other prospective coaches, so there’s a lot to play for.”
As a result, the team’s preparation this week hasn’t changed despite being out of finals contention.
“It’s another game for us to improve on where we’re at. I’m not looking at the table. I’m more interested in the performance collectively.
“I think we’ve made really good progress and I just want to see that maintained.
“I just want more of the same from our boys and build on last week’s performance and end the season in the right way and the proper way.
“We’ll be ready to go and hopefully we can get the points and bring them back to New Zealand on Saturday.”
Macarthur are in the same position as the Nix so Greenacre is unsure what to expect from the Bulls in the final round.
“Obviously, they’re a good side. They’ve got some really talented people like Mitch Duke and [Anthony] Caceres who are top, top players and have good pedigree so we know it’s going to be a really difficult game.
“Early on in the season they played some really good football and had some great results and so they’re more than capable of turning it on in an instant.
“So, we’re going to have go there fully prepared, which we are, and we’re expecting a really tough game from them.”
Chris Greenacre will be without suspended captain Alex Rufer after he collected his eight yellow card of the season in Christchurch on Saturday, while centre back Manjrekar James also didn’t travel after he picked up a knock at training this week.
But All Whites attacking midfielder Sarpreet Singh was included in the Phoenix touring party and is in line for his first minutes since injuring his knee in his A-League return two months ago.
“We’ll look to give him some gametime. Obviously, he’ll be on restricted minutes and stuff like that but apart from fitness he’s fully fit and ready to go.
“Full credit goes to him. He’s put himself in a position to be involved. He’s worked extremely hard and is ahead of schedule, which is great. That shows the commitment he’s got and hopefully we can see some good sparks…and let him enjoy part of the last game.”
The final round A-League match between the Wellington Phoenix and Macarthur FC is scheduled to kick-off at Campbelltown Sports Stadium in Sydney at 9:35pm (7:35pm AEST).
